IT COULD have been Ballarat Rush’s first season win.
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Victory was snatched from their grasp and Rush was forced to ponder what could have been in a nine-point overtime loss to Frankston in the South East Australian Basketball League.
There was a different, exciting style and attitude to the Harvey Norman Rush game at the MARS Minerdome on Sunday.
Rush was faster, more aggressive, moving better and really upbeat. They had their chances to put this game away.
Instead, a Kate Gaze three-pointer with five seconds on the clock levelled scores.
Rush made a final, desperate play, ending in a lay-up miss.
The Lady Blues capitalised on momentum and pushed ahead, 14-5, in the overtime period.
Rush coach Peter Cunningham said the final statistics told the story – Rush converted 8/31 three-pointers, 50 per cent from the foul line, field goal accuracy slipped from 41 per cent at half-time to settle at 35 per cent, and Rush was clearly outplayed on the boards, 53-29.
But Rush had successfully changed up its brand of play and drew in the hometown crowd.
Rush started to show this amid a 23-point loss to Nunawading on Saturday night and took more confidence into Sunday’s game.
“We created opportunities to win that game (against Frankston) and they certainly didn’t gift us those opportunities. We had to create them,” Cunningham said.
“We showed the way we can play, but we still let ourselves down at crucial times. We played reasonably well for a long time (against Nunawading) but not long enough.”
The Lady Blues were missing Maddie Garrick, in camp with the Australian Opals, but still had to contend with Kelly Bowen (26 points, 13 rebounds) and Emily Fryters (16 rebounds, seven assists).
Rush guard Bronte Clark opted to play with the Rush youth league team to build solid minutes this weekend and other emerging Rush players stepped up.
Molly Mathews shot 11 points (three three-pointers) from 13 minutes against Frankston, backing up 16 minutes on the floor at Nunawading.
Cunningham said Mathews had earned every minute and continued to adjust better and understand SEABL-level intensity and play.
Captain Abbey Wehrung was named home game MVP for her 18 points, three rebounds and three assists.
Liv Thompson started well with 12 points and five rebounds to half-time and faded a little late.